Kira struggled to think as her very body started rebelling against her.
“Your little stunt during the semifinals may have saved the life of the Tuann emperor’s son and the niece of the Haldeel royal. You may even have delayed the war we’d planned to start between them—for now.” Elise lifted a foot and pressed it against Kira’s hand, pushing down.
Kira barely felt the pressure, too preoccupied keeping her primus andkifrom rioting.
“That’s okay though. The Tsavitee have plenty of backup plans. As we speak, the androids the humans brought are launching an all-out assault against the Haldeel. Do you think the Haldeel will keep a race who betrays them around?” Elise’s grin was menacing. “I don’t.”
Kira shivered, holding in her scream as her skin attempted to split apart.
“The Consortium’s alliance with the Haldeel will fall. The deaths of your Curs on Rothchild only delayed the inevitable. Soon, things will go back to the way they were.”
“What do they want?” Kira managed to force out.
Elise’s looked down at her with a detached expression. “What else? Total domination.”
“Cliché,” Kira gritted out.
“Yeah. I will say they're quite curious as to how you managed to create a soul bound that retained its sanity. They have so many plans for the two of you.”
Elise's smile was the last thing Kira saw as her consciousness faded.
*
Graydon grabbed anandroid's arm, ripping it away from its body and tossing it to the side. Next, he stabbed upward with his en-blade.
It entered beneath the android's jaw, spearing into the "brain".
Sparks flew, but the light in its eyes didn't die. Graydon channeled hiskiinto the blade, ripping it out as the android blew apart.
Mist rose from its body, dissipating in the next second.
Graydon's lip curled at the pathetic creature.
It seemed the Tsavitee's masters knew no limits, trespassing into the realm of life and death.
This was the reason for the Tuann's hatred of them. This was why the Tuann had strict rules when it came to artificial intelligences and why they didn't trust humans.
Binding an unwilling soul to such an existence could result in a powerful army at the mercy of their creator's will, but it was also dangerous and abhorrent.
There were going to be consequences because of this attack.
The Consortium thought they were restricted before; they had no idea how merciless the Tuann could really be.
It wasn't out of the realm of possibility for the emperor to decide to wipe them out because of this—or at the very least knock them back into an age where space exploration was nothing but a dream.
It had happened before to those the Tuann perceived a threat.
Torvald dropped the body of a Tsavitee lower form at Graydon's feet. Horns jutted from the creature’s forehead and it had an underbite that exposed inch-long fangs meant for ripping the flesh of its enemy from their bones.
Torvald stepped over the creature with a look of distaste. "This has grown quite tedious."
In answer, Graydon buried his blade in the chest of a Tsavitee who had thought to take advantage of Graydon's distraction by attacking his back.
Blood spewed as Graydon yanked his blade out. The Tsavitee dropped to its knees, falling face first on the ground.
"Agreed," Graydon said, taking a moment to observe the battle.
The stench of blood and smoke clogged the air.
